Real Winners and Losers from the 2024 PGA Championship

Xander Schauffele finally won his well-deserved maiden major title at the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla; ten years after Rory McIlroy won the same event at the same course. We take a look at the real winners and losers from the second major of the 2024 season.

PGA Championship Winners

Bryson DeChambeau

Writers of books and films often speak of creating a ‘character arc’ for their main protagonists which ensure their character faces challenges to evolve and mature over the course of the plot. Bryson is the living embodiment of that effective character arc.

Bryson first captivated fans with his unorthodox approach to the game when he won the low amateur award at the 2016 Masters. In the years following that, his perceived arrogance and defection to LIV Golf turned him into a pantomime villain whom people enjoyed disliking.

Somehow, for reasons that seem unclear, Bryson has now evolved into a hugely popular character who, for better or worse, makes golf events more interesting when he is involved.

The Valhalla crowds elected Bryson to be the fan favorite yesterday despite finishing second, something that Bryson will relish after being a divisive character for so long.

Golf Fans

The course set up at Valhalla had its fair share of criticism this past week for being too easy and not being challenging enough to really test the best golfers in the world. That argument may have its merits, but due credit must be given to a final-round birdie shootout among some of the biggest names in the game.

Recent majors have often been won by a dominant individual by a few strokes which, whilst an impressive display of golfing ability, may lack the spine-tingling excitement which comes with drama on the last few holes.

Golf fans this week were gifted with Xander on the 18th tee needing a birdie to win a first major, and getting to witness the earth-stopping pressure of a 6-foot putt to win and avoid a playoff. That is entertainment.

Robert MacIntyre

This 27-year-old Scotsman is one of Europe’s finest young golfing exports. “Bob” became an immediate fan favorite when he finished T6 at his first major championship, the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush. Apart from a T8 at the same event in 2021, Bob hasn’t managed a top 10 in a major despite only missing one cut in 13 attempts.

This weekend Bob managed to play freely and score four rounds under par (66-69-66-70) to finish T8, his first top-10 in a major outside of the United Kingdom.

PGA Championship Losers

Collin Morikawa

At the 2024 Masters Morikawa was 6-under through 54 holes and paired with Scottie Scheffler for the final round; just one shot back. By the end of the day, Morikawa was 7 shots behind Scheffler.

At the 2024 PGA Championship Morikawa was 15-under through 54 holes and paired with Xander Schauffele for the final round; tied for the lead. By the end of the day, Morikawa was 6 shots behind Xander.

Two majors, two final-round pairings, two huge underperformances in the pressure round. In many ways, Morikawa will be happy with logging a T3 and a T4 in the two majors of the year so far.

In a far more resonant way, Morikawa will be left wondering how twice in a row he had a front-row seat whilst his playing partner pulled away to win a major, and he failed to break under par either time.

Sahith Theegala

Sahith started the event so strongly with a 65-67-67. He was 2nd after the first round, and 3rd after the second and third rounds. He even started the fourth round with a birdie which put him level at 15-under with the two leaders.

Over the next 14 holes, Sahith carded five bogies, and away went his chances of winning his first major. Despite leading the field in driving accuracy in round 3 he missed six fairways in the final round which meant he was frequently out of position from the off.

The future is bright for the 26-year-old who earned his first PGA win last September, but this weekend will be tainted with disappointment after a poor final round.

The next Signature Event is the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club on 6 June 2024.